History of Pendennis Castle

Pendennis Castle was an important artillery fort from 1539 until 1956, defending the naval and mercantile anchorage of Carrick Roads and the port of Falmouth. The Ordnance Office maintained a few gunners and a storekeeper for the care and issue of military supplies. Larger forces of artillery, and infantry from the Army, garrisoned the fortress in wartime or for training, notably in the siege of 1646, in the long wars with Napoleonic France (1793–1815) and throughout both world wars of the 20th century.

Henry VIII's gun tower and surrounding chemise (gun platform) at Pendennis, begun c 1540. The forebuilding on the left is a later Tudor addition

Henry VIII's Artillery Fort

Pendennis Castle was built from 1539 to 1545 when England faced a possible invasion from the united powers of Catholic Europe. To defend against this, Henry VIII implemented a national programme of military and naval preparations, including new ‘castles’ or coastal artillery forts equipped with guns to shatter enemy warships and troop transports that might attempt to capture English ports.[1]

The important anchorage of Carrick Roads, a deep estuary at the mouth of the river Fal, was a perfect location for an enemy to establish a base. To protect it, Henry built gun forts on opposite shores, at Pendennis and St Mawes. Pendennis Castle had a circular design that afforded all-round fire from guns mounted at several levels.

The fort was fully garrisoned by up to 100 men only when there was an imminent threat, notably during the planned Spanish invasions of 1574, 1579, 1588 (the ‘Great Armada’) and 1596–7. On the last occasion a Spanish fleet intended to land troops at Pendennis and capture Carrick Roads. The attack never came but the threat forced Elizabeth I to review the defences.[2]

The Bastioned Fortress

In 1597 the soldiers and courtiers Sir Nicholas Parker, Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Sir Walter Raleigh surveyed the defences of Pendennis. By 1600, the engineer Paul Ive had enclosed Henry VIII’s castle within a much larger fortress to defend the whole of Pendennis headland.[3]It was an elongated pentagon in plan, defined by a high rampart and ditch, with a bastion projecting at each angle.

The large triangular salient overlooked Pendennis Point, where a smaller fort included the earlier gun tower known as Little Dennis. The bastions had heavy guns to protect against attack by land and sea. They also defended the fort against a close assault, to which the circular form of Henry VIII’s castle was vulnerable.

The Siege of Pendennis, 1646

Between 1625 and 1630 England made a catastrophic attempt to influence the course of the Thirty Years War in continental Europe, mainly in opposition to Spain. This prompted new improvements to Pendennis and in 1627 the engineer Sir Bernard Johnson constructed a new bastioned rampart and ditch (the Hornwork) across the peninsula, replacing a neglected Tudor earthwork and strengthening the land defences to the north.[4]

Pendennis was tested during the First Civil War (1642–6) when Falmouth was an important port for King Charles I’s army. In 1646 Pendennis was one of the last Royalist garrisons to hold out against the Parliamentary army: about 1,000 men endured a three-month siege, agreeing an honourable surrender in August when food supplies ran out.[5]

Georgian Modernisation

Although there were no major events at Pendennis after 1646, continuing warfare with the Dutch and the French ensured that a small garrison was maintained, on and off, with a new guard barracks and gateway built in about 1700.

After peace with France in 1714, coastal defences were reviewed and the engineer Colonel Christian Lilly reported Pendennis ‘neglected’ and ‘in a very ruinous condition’. His recommendations for repairs were implemented from 1732 to 1739 when the old rampart was re-formed, new guns were installed, and new buildings erected, including a storehouse, powder magazine and gunners’ barracks.[6]

The American and Napoleonic Wars

From 1775 to 1780, in the American War, the locally raised Miners’ Militia garrisoned Pendennis and new barracks were built. During the long wars with Napoleonic France (1793–1815) the garrison became permanent and the defences were strengthened by five raised gun batteries (cavaliers) on the rampart overlooking the landward approaches. A new sea battery, Half-Moon Battery, was built outside the fort on the south, while a host of barracks, a hospital and store buildings were erected both inside the fortress and on Hornwork Common to the north.[7]

Decline and Rearmament in the 19th Century

After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, Pendennis was neglected and many of the temporary buildings were removed. By the late 1850s, however, England and France were rivals again in a race for military and naval advantage, and more powerful guns were installed at Pendennis from 1854,[8]notably at Half-Moon Battery and at Crab Quay.

Yet the fortress received little attention in the nationwide programme of fort-building in the 1860s, being considered a lower strategic target for the enemy than many other locations around the coast.

Nonetheless, the outdated defences were gradually improved from 1880 to 1900, a period of revolutionary change in military technology. The first major improvement was a submarine minefield laid across the entrance to Carrick Roads in 1885.

But it was Falmouth’s designation as a Defended Port in 1887[9]that resulted in many new defences for the estuary, commanded from Pendennis. These comprised breech-loading guns, accurate range-finders, searchlights to aid night fighting, and telephones and electricity to enable efficient communication. Six-inch guns were intended to engage warships from new positions in One-Gun Battery inside Pendennis and from Half-Moon Battery, while light quick-firing 6- and 12-pounder guns to counter fast torpedo boats were fitted in East Bastion,[10]Carrick Mount Bastion[11]and Crab Quay.

Such intricate defences required a permanent staff and in 1902 new barracks were built at Pendennis for the 105th Regiment Royal Garrison Artillery.[12]Many other new buildings included a War Signal Station on the roof of the Henrician castle to control shipping movements.[13]

The World Wars

During the First World War (1914–18) Pendennis was the command centre of coast artillery defences for West Cornwall.[14]Strongpoints and trenches defended it and thousands of troops came for training before going to war in France and Belgium. The Royal Navy used the anchorage for convoys, minesweepers and anti-submarine vessels.[15]

In 1939 Pendennis resumed control of coast defences.[16]The threat from torpedo boats was countered by twin 6-pounder guns, while long-range defence against ships came from guns in new covered positions at Half-Moon Battery. From 1943 these were the latest 6-inch mark 24 models, operating with precision under radar control. Huts and temporary buildings were erected, the Pendennis Fire Command Post enlarged, and a Battery Plotting Room was established, from which the fire commander could control all action.

After the war Pendennis Castle continued to be used for training until 1956 when the Coast Artillery Branch of the Army was disbanded. A year later, it was returned to the guardianship of the Ministry of Works for opening to the public, a status it had been given in 1921.